UGIC Board Members

The UGIC Board is made up of elected volunteers who serve a 3 year term representing city, county, state, federal, higher education, industry, and ‘at large’ user groups.

Kasey Hansen
Contact Info:Gateway Mapping, INC, 466 N 900 W, Kaysville, UT, 84037, (801) 547-0393UGIC Position: ChairRepresenting: IndustryPrimary Sector: Industry
UGIC Board Member Thru: 2019
Bio: My background in mapping and GIS really began when I was very young—I have been making maps as long as I can remember. I grew up drawing maps of my neighborhood, my school, and camping and vacation routes. In high school, I decided that I wanted to create maps for a living and I have never looked back. After high school, I enrolled at BYU to specifically study cartography and GIS, and I graduated with a master’s degree in 2001. During my first year in Grad School, I was hired by Gateway Mapping where I am still employed today and currently serve as the GIS Services Director for the company.

During the last 13 years I have had the opportunity to gain experience in a wide variety of GIS applications, from web mapping to GIS analysis to data collection to computer programming. In particular, I enjoy teaching GIS concepts, and have had the opportunity to provide onsite training to many cities, counties, and other organizations in Utah and other western states to help them further their GIS efforts. I have also had the opportunity to teach workshops during the past few UGIC conferences where I’ve been able to get to know many GIS users around the state better. In addition, I’ve been the primary organizer of the Davis County GIS User Group for the past three years, where I’ve been able to gain experience in planning and carrying out quarterly meetings. When I am not at work, my favorite activities still have a tie to geography. I enjoy taking my family hiking, camping, geocaching, and exploring around in general.

Nick KrygerContact Info: Salt Lake City Public Utilities, 1530 South West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT, 84115, (801) 483-6834UGIC Position: Vice-ChairRepresenting: At-LargePrimary Sector: City
UGIC Board Member Thru: 2019
Bio: Nick Kryger is the GIS & IT Administrator for Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities. Nick has been working in GIS for over 20 years. He has a BS degree in Business Administration and in Industrial Relations and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. Nick is also the past Chair of Utah Geographic Information Council.

Josh Groeneveld
Contact Info:Division of Emergency Management, 1110 State Office Building, Salt Lake City, UT 84114, (801) 538-3400UGIC Position: SecretaryRepresenting: StatePrimary Sector: State
UGIC Board Member Thru: 2019
Bio:Josh Groeneveld is the GIS Coordinator for the Utah Division of Emergency Management. He is the chair of the Utah Mapping Emergency Technical Team, which provides GIS professionals with resources and guides for producing maps and performing data analysis during an incident. He is co-chair of the National States Geographic Information Council Geospatial Preparedness Committee, which promotes coordination and shares best practices between state emergency management, public safety and homeland security agencies. He received his Masters in Geography from the University of Utah in 2011 and a Bachelor’s in Geography from Western Michigan University in 2008.

Mellissa LassloContact Info: Carbon County, 65 S 100 E, Price, UT, 84501, (435) 636-3711UGIC Position: TreasurerRepresenting: At-LargePrimary Sector: County
UGIC Board Member Thru: 2020
Bio:Mellissa Lasslo is a currently a GIS Specialist at Carbon County and has been with them since 2008. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology/Zoology with a minor in Marketing at Southern Utah University in 2007. In 2008 she completed her Certificate in GIS at Southern Utah University. She received her GISP in 2013. Before coming to Carbon County she did an internship for Fishlake National Forest and was responsible for creating a GIS based database of gathered bird monitoring data for 2005-2007 from the Fillmore and Beaver Ranger Districts. She also provided data summaries, map output and a program that provided the ability to make annual updates to the database with the ability to query the accumulating data. At Carbon County, Mellissa is responsible for collecting and updating data, data summary and map outputs. She helped create the interactive map and is responsible for maintaining it. Mellissa helped implement customized maps for Garmin GPS units and has been working towards implementing maps for mobile devices. She is also the Chair of the Canyon Country Partnership (CCP) user group. In March, she was selected to be part of the DACUM Panel to help update Salt Lake Community College’s geospatial curriculum along with the GeoTech Center’s national core curriculum for geospatial professionals.

Dave Henrie
Contact Info:Utah County GIS, 100 E Center St , Provo, UT 84606 , (801) 851-8327UGIC Position: Conference ChairRepresenting: CountyPrimary Sector: County
UGIC Board Member Thru: 2018
Bio:Dave Henrie has worked in the GIS field for Utah County Government for the last 18 years. He received a BS in Geography from BYU, after which, he also got his MPA from the same institution. He is currently working in the IT Department, where he develops applications for Internet Mapping. Dave has been involved with UGIC for several years and is currently serving as the UGIC Conference Chair.

Bio: Kate has a BS in Geography from BYU and an MS in Geography from the University of Utah. Her master’s research centered on use of geospatial technologies in emergency management, and measures of emergency preparedness. She worked at Unified Fire Authority/Salt Lake County Emergency Management for 8 years with responsibility for network analysis of fire station response times, natural hazard risk assessment and hazard mitigation planning, and more recently server administration and web application configuration. Kate has also worked as an Adjunct Instructor at Salt Lake Community College teaching Spatial Analysis. Currently, she works at Draper City. She is a member of the UGIC Education Committee, has served as a GeoMentor, and participates in the Salt Lake County GIS Day events. She also is a coordinator for UMETT, the Utah Mapping Emergency Technical Team, which seeks to implement best practices in using geospatial tools to support emergency response. Outside of work, you’ll hopefully find me hiking, backpacking, riding a bike, and dragging my family along to explore anywhere new.

Bio:Jess Kirby is the Open Space Management Supervisor for Basin Recreation, a special recreation district of Summit County located just outside of Park City,Utah. Before joining Basin Recreation she spent 15 years in State Government working with the State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spending 5 years as the GIS Manager. Preceding SITLA she worked as a lead plant ecology fieldwork technician and remote sensing analyst on the Southwest Regional Re-GAP project at Utah State University. Prior to her tenure with State Government, she’s worked as a River Ranger for the White River National Forest and Backcountry Ranger for Olympic National Park. She worked in the administrative offices of Mammoth Ski Area and seasonally for Mammoth Lake Recreation Department and for Adventure Associates as a high elevation ropes course instructor, as well as in outdoor retail. She graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Natural Resource Management, with a concertation in Parks and Protected Areas Management and is a certified GIS professional (GISP). She has received numerous awards for her work in GIS, including receiving the 2015 Governor’s award for excellence and the 2007 Governor’s recognition for “outstanding employee”. Her work has been featured in Volume 26 of the annual ESRI Map Book. Originally from Colorado, she moved to Utah in 2000 with her husband to pursue his education. Shortly after seeing the Wasatch Mountains the decision to stay in Utah was easy; 16 years later Utah is her home. She is a mother of two magnificent kidos and one chocolate lab. She is passionate about the outdoors and spends most of her free time hiking, biking, skiing or discovering new “get away” places to escape with her family.

Andre Coleman
Contact Info:Pacific Northwest National LaboratoryUGIC Position: DirectorRepresenting: FederalPrimary Sector: Federal
UGIC Board Member Thru: 2019
Bio:André Coleman is a senior research scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (16-years) and currently resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. He brings 24-years of experience in the fields of geoinformatics, hydrology, and computer science with significant experience and research interests in spatial and numerical modeling, water resources, bioenergy modeling, estuarine systems modeling, disaster response, climate analysis, data fusion, machine learning, high-performance computing, photogrammetry and remote-sensing. These specialties have been applied to numerous local, regional, national, and global scale environmental and energy-related projects. Mr. Coleman graduated with a BS in Geography and Earth Resources from Utah State University in 1995 with emphases in GIS, hydrology, and fluvial geomorphology. In 2008, he completed an MS (cum laude) in Geoinformatics at the Vrije Universiteit, The Netherlands and won the International Award of Academic Excellence in Geoinformatics for his work in neural-based classifiers. Mr. Coleman is currently pursuing a Ph.D. from Clemson University with a focus on the water-energy-environment nexus and sustainable systems. To date, he has authored or co- authored 28 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters.

Chris McGintyContact Info: USU Remote Sensing/GIS Laboratory, 5275 Old Main Hill, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322, (435) 797-0653UGIC Position: DirectorRepresenting: Higher EducationPrimary Sector: Higher Education
UGIC Board Member Thru: 2020
Bio:Chris McGinty is the associate director of the Remote Sensing/GIS Laboratory at Utah State University. He has spent more than 14 years using geospatial technology in both private and academic settings. As a student when command line was still the best way to conduct geospatial analysis, Chris had the opportunity to observe and take part in the paradigm shift in the way we teach and use geospatial tools. Throughout Chris’ time at Utah State University, he has had the opportunity to engage hundreds of students in Introduction to Geographic Information Science as well as Advanced Geographic Information Systems courses he has taught. As many know, teaching these rapidly evolving courses can be very challenging, but above the challenge, extremely rewarding. Chris will bring a great level of enthusiasm and excitement to the position and would look forward to supporting UGIC in its efforts to further and promote the teaching and use of geospatial technologies as well as enhancing the connection and participation of Utah’s K-12 schools and high education institutions.

Clint HutchingsContact Info: City of West Jordan, 8000 S Redwood Road, West Jordan, UT 84088, (801) 569-5174UGIC Position: DirectorRepresenting: CityPrimary Sector: City
UGIC Board Member Thru: 2020
Bio: Soon after Clint graduated with a BS in Business Information Systems, he was introduced to GIS in 2000 while working for ADOT at the Traffic Operations Center. It was love at first click! Oh the lines, polygons, points, he couldn’t get enough of it! Clint moved home to Utah in 2001 to help UDOT’s Traffic Operations Center prepare for the 2002 Olympics. In 2006, Clint went to work for the City of West Jordan as the GIS administrator. In 2006, his team consisted of one other person and himself. 11 years later, the team consists of 8 people plus 2 Interns. It has been Clint’s goal to promote GIS to our City government by showing them the power and potential of GIS. Clint’s number 1 rule for his group is to not wait for a request to come in to our department, but to proactively seek ways to help all the departments in the city. Clint is passionate about helping GIS students and graduates move on to getting their careers established. He have been able to develop a successful GIS Intern program. In the past 8 years, he has been able to help dozens of Interns secure meaningful employment around the world. Clint’s team has won a handful of awards the past few years including a SAG award from ESRI which was presented to the group personally by Jack Dangermond. He has been elected to serve as the Employee Association President for 3 consecutive years. Currently, he serves on the Employee Review Appeal Board and the SLCC GIST Program Advisory Committee.

Joe RhodesContact Info: ESRI, 1 International Court, Broomfield, CO, 80021, (303) 449-7779 Ext. 8228UGIC Position: Associate DirectorRepresenting: Esri, IndustryPrimary Sector: Other/At-LargeUGIC Board Member Thru: AppointedBio: Joe Rhodes is a Denver-based local government account manager for Esri, serving the larger cities and counties in Utah. He has a BA in Geography from Portland State University and an MS in Geographic Information Science from the University of Denver, with research centered on active transportation network planning. Before joining Esri, he worked in GIS for the City of Portland, Capital Area Council of Governments (Austin), and Watershed Sciences, Inc. (now Quantum Spatial). He feels honored to be part of the Utah GIS community and to have the opportunity to help support UGIC’s mission to promote and support the use of geospatial technology to solve real problems and better understand our incredible world.

Matt PetersContact Info: AGRC, 1 State Office Building, Rm 5130, Salt Lake City, UT, 84114, (385)202-3297UGIC Position: Associate DirectorRepresenting: AGRC, StatePrimary Sector: StateUGIC Board Member Thru: AppointedBio: Matt is a GIS Specialist at the Utah AGRC. He received a Bachelor of Science in Geography from the University of Utah. Matt has been involved in a wide range of GIS projects and endeavors during the span of his career with AGRC. When he is not working you may find him pedaling into the sunset.